Stuart Quinn, a policy research and strategy analyst for CoreLogic summarizes 2014 as a period of consumption for housing market participants when it came to regulatory and policy guidance.  They were "digesting, interpreting, re-interpreting and implementing lengthy regulations to remain compliant and operationally sound."

And, according to Quinn, they did have a lot to digest, interpret and implement during the year.  The Ability to Repay/Qualified Mortgage (QM) Rule, new servicing rules, amendments modifying the National Flood Insurance Program, and the Qualified Residential Mortgage/Risk Retention rule were all on the plates of lenders and/or servicers.  There were multi-million dollar legal settlements, tighter underwriting standards, gradually rising interest rates, and still soft employment, none of which were particularly good for housing markets and all while discussions continued about access to credit and GSE reform, . 

Quinn, writing in CoreLogic's latest edition of MarketPulse, does not see that a lot of progress was made last year.  He thinks the 113^th Congress did provide a little more certainty during the year although he does not specify how, and the economy, while growing, didn't reach levels needed for further housing recovery in addition to the various headwinds listed above.   

But it wasn't all status quo.  He credits the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) with introducing "very minimal disruption" other than the costs of compliance with its QM Rule.  The Rule's temporary exemption for GSE eligible loans allowed those loans to continue to be financed and money center banks in many cases expanded their lending operations.  The CFPB "cure policy" for calculating points and fees provided more clarity in underwriting and they continue to consider a similar provision for income calculations.

There was new leadership of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and strong efforts on its part to expand the credit box through authorization of a new high loan-to-value GSE product and while it twice modified the GSEs' warranties and representation policies which provided more clarity and certainty for the transfer of risk from originators to sellers.    

Lawmakers did make some stabs at comprehensive housing finance reform but nothing that made it through the legislative process either because of a lack of compromise or because of the pressure of midterm elections.

So what might 2015 look like from a policy perspective?  Quinn tries his hand at prophecy.

Congress is rumored to be ready to tackle tax reform which always has the possibility of affecting the housing industry.  Quinn doubts it will get far because of the contentiousness of the issue so close to yet another election, the number of special interests attempting to wield influence, and other legislative impediments such as the need to address expiration of temporary funding for both Homeland Security and the Highway Trust Fund. 

Two Senate bills proposed in the 113^th Congress did provided the framework for discussion of housing finance reform and one, Johnson-Crapo actually made it out of committee.  Three bills (Waters, Delaney-Himes, Hensarling) remain under consideration in the house but Quinn does not expect GSE reform to be in the forefront of Republican Party priorities this year and thinks the debate may even be postponed until after the next election unless some "catalytic event" should occur such as either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac requiring another draw from the Treasury.

There are, he says, several important items already on the agenda for the first half of this year.  These include the finalization of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act by CFPB, implementation of the new disclosures under the Truth in Lending and Real Estate Settlement Disclosures Acts, scheduled for August; new eligibility requirements from FHFA for private mortgage insurers, and various actions from the states regarding foreclosure laws.  He also expects discussions of credit access, housing affordability, actuarially appropriate insurance premiums, the structure of a new single GSE security, adverse selection, and regulatory implementation and compliance. 

He concludes, "With economic fundamentals back in the driver seat, the question now becomes, how quickly and capably can economic drivers navigate the new rules of the road?"